Nowadays, there are numerous types of spas, also known as whirlpools and swimming pools or swim spas. The latter are spas of larger dimensions which are suitable especially for active swimming. Spas are used for relaxation and rehabilitation and they are also designed to complement houses and villas, both in the interior and the exterior. Spas range in ground plan size from approximately 1×2 m for a spa up to 3×6 m for a swim spa. The structure of a spa is designed to retain heat and keep the water clean for a long time. This is achieved by an insulated structure of a casing and a thermo-insulating cover, which prevents leakage of moisture and heat from the spa, thereby reducing the operation costs. Moreover, the cover prevents injuries of young children and pets, protects the spa from contamination with impurities and dust and prevents penetration of solar radiation, which causes microorganisms to multiply in the water. Even though thermo-insulating covers are made from a lightweight material, their weight is still relatively high due to their dimensions, especially in the case of swim spas, and this makes these covers difficult to handle. The most commonly used thermo-insulating covers consist of two thermo-insulating segments, which are rotatably connected to each other and are manually moved from a closed position to an open position and vice versa. In the closed position, at the beginning of the manual handling, one thermo-insulating segment is facing the other one, so that they are touching each other by their originally upper sides and subsequently they are removed, whereby the cover requires two people, to move it on and off the spa. Another disadvantage of the manual removal of the thermo-insulating cover is the problem with storing the thermo-insulating cover when the spa is used.
Therefore, devices for manual handling of the segments of thermo-insulating covers between their closed position and open position have been developed, including manually controlled mechanical devices and semi-automatic devices, as well as automatic devices reacting only to commands from the operator.
CZ 305124 discloses a device for manual handling of a thermo-insulating cover of a massage or a swim spa between its closed position and open position and vice versa, whereby the thermo-insulating cover comprises a pair of thermo-insulating segments formed by a carrier thermo-insulating segment and a carried thermo-insulating segment. The two segments are rotatably connected to each other and in the closed position are lying by their bottom surfaces on the circumference of the spa, whereby the carrier thermo-insulating cover is rotatably mounted on the spa. The device is arranged on both sides of the cover and comprises means for decreasing the angle between the bottom surfaces of the thermo-insulating segments from 180° to 0° during opening the thermo-insulating cover, and for increasing this angle from 0° to 180° during closing the thermo-insulating cover, whereby these means comprise a gas pressure spring, whose cylinder is fixedly mounted on the massage pool and a piston rod is rotatably connected to to a strut, which is connected to the turning point of a lifting arm, whose other end is by means of a pin rotatably mounted on the carrier thermo-insulating segment. A guiding member is rotatably mounted on the massage pool, the guiding member being slidably mounted in a bushing, which is rotatably mounted on a side wall of the carrier thermo-insulating segment.
Once the carrier thermo-insulating segment reaches the open position in which it is slightly tilted backwards, the operator pushes the carried thermo-insulating segment to the bottom surface of the carrier thermo-insulating segment, whereby the free side of the carried thermo-insulating segment is at this stage, including the travelling wheel, above the level of the edge of the spa, but the facing surfaces of the segments are not touching each other. Due to the backward tilt of the carrier segment, the operator must exert considerable force in the initial closing phase, and therefore large covers of swim spas, where the length of the segments is more than 5 m, must be operated from both sides.
Another problem is the strength of the mounting of the carrier thermo-insulating segment in cases when it is intended to control the swim spa cover, whose length is from 5 to 6 m, the insulation boards having a corresponding weight. Since the two segments of the cover are carried by the carrier segment, only two points on the side of the carrier segment serve to transmit forces from the device for manual handling—a pin on which the carrier arm and the bushing of the guiding member are mounted. Consequently, the carrier segment is overloaded at these points, which causes fatigue damage.
The above-mentioned forces are also transmitted to the edge of the spa and, as a result, its deformations occur.
The aim of the invention is therefore to improve the above-mentioned solution and eliminate its disadvantages.